Burglarproof safe



Jan. 26 1926. 1,570,882- L. A. ELLISON BURGLARPRQOF SAFE INVENTOR. LJZZIZZ'S 0n mmmmminimum Patented Jan. 26, 1926.:

UNITED", STATES LUTHER YADDISON'ELLISOIN, or rorEKA', KA SAS;

BUReLARrRoorsArE;

Application filed June 17,1924 Serial No. 7f Z0,587.v

I To'aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER ADDISON ELLISON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented certain new andu'seful Improvements in Burglar'proof Safes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. :3

This invention relates to an improved safe for; use in a bank or other similar institution where large sums of money are kept on hand, and one Object of the invention is to provide a safe in which the money may be kept inco-mpartments provided in a rotating drum, and to provide improved means for imparting a very slow rotation to this drum sothat the different compartments positioned about the drum may be successively brought into registry with an entrance to the chamber having the drum mounted therein.

Another object of the construct the safe that the drunrturning means may be mounted in the compartment beneath'the drum where it will be, covered by the drum and prevented from being tampared with so that the drum may be caused to rotate faster than desired. It is desired to have .this drum rotate very slowly so theta relatively long length of time will be required to bring a filled compartment into position for removalo-fthe money there from, thereby preventing removal of the money by robb'e"s who would not have time to wait nntil the drum has rotated a sufiici'en t amount to br1n g the compartments into position whe e acce s may be had to theme,

Another object of the invention is to so construct this drum-turning mechanism that the mam drive shaft thereof may be formed in two sections normally connected by a governor-controlled clutch which will cause one of the clutch members tobe moved out of engagement with the other clutch member if the drive shaft is rotated at too fast a speed. 7

Another object of the invention is toso construct this drum-turning mechanism that it may be rotated through the medium of an electric motor having a switch, and to provide means for causing the switch to be turned off when the drive shaft and motor shaft have been rotated at sufiicient number of r l t ns to more a compartmentt invention is toso may be the depth of jthe the drum into positionwhere access may be 'had to the contents thereof. H Another object of the invention is to so construct this safe that the motor may be mounted upon a supportexternally or the body portion of the safe and have its shaft releasably connected with I the outer end of the main drive shaft of the drum-rotating mechanism, thereby permitting this mo-V tor to be removed for repair purposes when necessary.

ThlS lnventlon 1s illustrated in the accompanylng drawlngs, where1n:

Figure 1 is a view showing; the improved safe in front elevation;

Figure 2 1s a vertlcal sectlonal View through the upper Ilportion of the safe;

Fi ure 3 isan e arged view in elevation showlng the switch operating means; s

Figure 4 is a view of the turn-button switch;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing the governor construction;

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view through the upper portion of the same;

Figure 7 is a sectional view through the drum 1 This improved -safe .is provided with a body portion, which is indicated in general by the numeral 1, and will be formed of very strong metal, such as steel or the like.

Th1s body is provided with a base portion faces of the upper and lower sections and then allowed to cool, and provide the retaining keys 6. A chamber 7 is formed in the" head 3 and extends from apoint adjacent the lower end of the lower headforming section 5 to a point intermediate upper head-forming porto this chamber is had tion 4. Access through an opening or passageway 8 provided with aclosure door 9 whichmay be securely locked, when so desired, by any suitable locking means. It will thus be seen that this safe is provided with a very strong body portion and that it will be very difficult to obtain access to the chamber 7 formed in the head 3 when the door 9 is closed.

The money which it is desired to protect is to be placed in compartments 10 positioned about the circumference of the drum 11, and each of these compartments will be provided with a closure door 12 which is hingedly mounted and may be provided with locks 13 as an additional protection against removal of the money or other valuables from the compartments 10. It will be further noted that one of the compartments may be provided with a flooring plate 14 removably held in place so that when it is desired to inspect the turningmechanism located beneath this drum, the compartment having the removable flooring may be moved to a position in registry with the entrance 8 and the door of this compartment then opened so that the flooring may be removed and drawn outwardly through the entrance 8. 0f course, if so' desired, each of the compartments may be provided with a removable flooring plate, but this is not necessary.

This drum is positioned within the cham her 7 and is rotatably carried by a shaft 15 extending vertically in the compartment 7 and axially through the drum with its upper end portion'fitt-ing into a socket 16 formed in the upper section 4 of the casing head and its lower end portion fitting into a socket 17 formed in the lower portion of the casing or body portion of the safe. It will, of course,

be obvious that if desired separate shafts could be provided instead of a single shaft, with one shaft extending upwardly from the top of the drum and the other extending downwardly from the' lower end of the drum. 2 i

The drum is rotatably mounted upon this shaft15 and has its lower head provided with a depending neck portion 18 positioned above the upwardly extending hub portion 19 of a large worm gear 20 which rotatably its upon the shaft 15 in the bottom of the chamber 7. Bearing balls 21 are provided between the neck 18 and upper end of the hub 19 so that the drum may turn easily, and similar bearing balls 22 are provided between the hub of thQ'WOlm wheQl 20 and the bottom of the chamber 7 so that thus the worm wheel can turn freely at a different rate of speed from that of the drum.

1 1 er he ransmit ret rv me em t ite he qrm Whee 0 o the, d-r iav he as be n p ov de a shor shaft 3 iotta ab y. m un d n a be r ng 24 ex en ing o er e. rm Whfifil fr m. h b om, 'i 'q f: he chambe 7,, endwthis $1ie t23 Ca r s. at. 0 6,. nd a k w s 2. and. a in e h r end worn 1'26 The worm'26 es es ith depending teeth 27 formed about the lower head of the drum and the skew gear is engaged by a worm thread 28 extending upwardly from the upper face of the worm wheel 20. time the worm wheel 29 makes a complete revolution, the skew gear 25 and shaft 23 will be turned a portion of a rotation corresponding to one tooth of the skew gear 25,

and that each time the shaft 23 makes a complete revolution the worm 26 will impart rotary movement to the drum an amount corresponding to one of the teeth 27. Therefore, the drum rotates at a greatly reduced rate of speed when compared to the speed at which the worm wheel 20 rotates.

In order to impart rotary movement to the worm wheel 20, there has been provided a main drive shaft having end sections 29 and 30. The outer shaft section 29 is protance to prevent the shaft from having longitudinal play in the opening 31 and secured in the desired position upon the threaded end portion of the shaft by means of a set screw The collar 34 is provided with teeth 36 upon its exposed end face and, therefore, this collar will provide a clutch section for engagement by the teeth of the governor operated clutch section or collar 37 slidably mounted upon the, shaft section 30 and held against rotation upon this shaft section 30 by the key 38. The end of the shaft section 30 fits into the portion of the clutch member 34 which extends beyond the threaded end of the shaft section 29 and, therefore, these shaft sections will be held in axial alignment with each other. The clutch member 37 forms a portion of a motor which includes the clutch member or collar 37, a second collar or ring 39 which rotatably fits upon a sleeve 40 carried by the shaft 39, and spring arms 41. extending be tween and secured to the collars 37 and 39 and carrying weights 42 which will be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force set up when the shaft section 30 is rotating at too great a speed and will cause the clutch. member 37 to be drawn may from the clutch section 34. This will cause the shaft 30 to be disconnected from the shaft section 29 and, therefore, a rotation of this shaftsection 30 will be prevented when necessary. The inner end of the shaft section 30 is, rotatably mounted in bearing 43 positioned in the bottom of the chamber 7, and adja- O illb this bearing 43, there has been provided It will thus be seen that each vided an electrically operated motor 45' which will be of a conventional construction and will 'bemounted upon a bracket 46 extending from the body of the safe. The shaft 47 of this motor carries a head 48 and this head 48 will be releasably connected "with the head 32 of the outershaft section 29 by removable fasteners 49 or in any other desired manner which Wlll permit of its being disconnected from the head 32 when'it is desired to remove the motor and make sintable repairs or replace it with a new motor. A control swltch 50 of the turnbutton type is provided for this motorand will preferably be mounted upon a support shelf or bracket '51 secured to the body the mot-or and extending beneath the motor shaft 47. It is desired to have this turn-hutton switch moved to an off position the drum has been rotated a sufficient .cc to move atilled compartment of the drum into registry with the entrance open-- ing in the head of the body of the safe and there has,

therefore, been provided the following mechanism which will cause this switch to be automatically shut off, thereby making it onl necessary to manually turn the switch teen on position. and then let the motor run nntil the switch isv automatically moved to an off position.

In order to permit of this switch being moved to an off position, the motor shaft has been provided with a worm 52 which is enclosed by the in wardly extending portion of a. casing 54, the lower end of which is secured to thebracket or shelf 51. This casing 54 will be preferably formed of separable side sections releasably held 'together by. removable fasteners so that when desired the casing may be taken apart. lVithin the casing 54 there has been providrd a worm wheel 55 which is rotatably Jed with the worm 52 so that each time heft 47 makes a complete revolution the worm wheel will be rotated a distance of one tooth. In addition to being provided with the teeth for engagement by the worm- 52. this worm wheel has also been provided with a. worm thread 5? upon one side and having engagement "with the teeth of the warm wheel 58 which is rot-stably mounted in the casing 54 "t right angles to the worm wheel It w therefore, be seen that each time the worm wheel 55 makes a complete revolution the worm wheel 58 and the shaft 59 which carries this worm wheel and is rotatably mounted in the bearing sleeve n :imted, as shown at 56, and has its teeth 60 will be rotated a distance corresponding to one tooth of the worm wheel 58. The shaft 59 which carries the worm wheel 58 extends out. of the sleeve 60 and carries an arm 61 which extends radially of the shaft 59 and is of suflicient length to engage the operating head or button 62 of the turnbutton switch 50. I

It will bereadily seen that after the turn button switch has been turned to an on po-' sition, the motor will-continue to operate and impart rotary movement to the drum until the shaft 59 has made a complete revolution to bring the abutment arm 61 into engagement with the knob 62 of the turnbutton switch and. move this knob to turn,

the switch to an off position... The flow of current to the motor will then, of course,

be cut off and the motor will-cease to operate until the turn-button switch is again moved to the on position. It will thus be seen that when thesupply of'money in use is running low. it is only necessary for the payingteller of a bank to turn the button 62 so that the motor will be put in motion and the drum caused to slowly rotate. The drum will then be caused to rotate until a filled compartment has been moved into position -where access may be had 'to 1t, through the entrance passage '8 in thehead of the safe, at which time the button will be turned to the off position and operation of the motor stopped. The door 12 of the compartment "can then be opened and the cash can be relUO moved from this compartment as needed.

From the above description, 1t will be seen that there has been provided a safe in which rate compartments and the major portion of this money protected so that access may not be had to it. This will, therefore, preven. daylight robbersgobtaining any money ct:- cept the money in actual use, as a daylight robber would not have time to wait until the drum had been slowly turned into position to bring the filled compartn'ients into registry with the entrance to the safe. It will be furthernoted that even if the compartment having the removable bottom plate were positioned in operative relation to the entrance and the bottom plate removed, the various gears and shafts positioned beneath the drum' could not be readily forced out of proper engagement with each other and, therefore, it would be impossible to release the drum'and permit of its being freely rotated.

It will be further noted that removal of large supply of money can be kept in s'epathe motor would also not be of any help, as I opening 31 in which this outer drive shaft section is rotatably mounted.

I claim 2- l. A safe comprising a body having a chamber provided therein, a drum rotatably mounted in said chamber having compartments successively moving into registry with the entrance to the chamber as the drum is rotated in the chamber, means for imparting rotary movement to said drum including a main drive shaft, an electrically operated motor for imparting rotary movement to said shaft, and a control switch for said motor, and means for moving said switch to an off position after said shaft has been rotated a predetermined number of times and the drum rotated a sufficient amount to move a compartment thereof out of registry with the entrance to the chamber and another compartment into registry with the entrance.

; shaft and including a rotatable shaft carrying a radially extending abutment for engaging and moving the switch to an off position during rotation of the shaft.

3. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein and provided with an entrance, a drum rotatably mounted in said chamber, means for imparting rotary movement to said drum for successively moving compartments provided about the drum into registry with said entrance, said means including a rotatably mounted drive shaft formed in two portions, means for transmitting rotary movement from the drive shaft to the drum at a reduced rate of speed, and means for preventing rotation of a portion of the drive shaft when the drive shaft is rotated at too high a speed.

41'- The structure of claim 3 having the drive shaft formed in sections in end to end relation to each other a clutch member carried by one shaft section, and a spring governor carried by the other shaft section and including a clutch member keyed thereto for longitudinal sliding movement into and out of operative engagement with the clutch member of the first mentioned shaft section.

5. The structure of claim 3 having the drive shaft formed in sections in end to end relation to each other, a clutch member carried by one shaft section, a spring governor carried by the other shaft section and including a clutch member keyed thereto for longitudinal sliding movement into and out of operative engagement with the clutch member of the first mentioned shaft section, a collar adjustable longitudinally upon the second mentioned shaft section, a ring ro tatable upon said collar, and weight carrying spring arms extending between and se cured to the ring and last mentioned clutch section.

6. A safe comprising a body having a chamber formed therein and an entrance to the chamber, a drum in said chamber having compartments to be brought into registry with the entrance to the chamber, a shaft rotatably mounted in said drum, a worm wheel rotatably mounted upon said shaft beneath the drum and having a worm thread extending from its upper face, said drum being provided with depending gear teeth, a shaft rotatably mounted between the worm wheel and drum and having at one end a worm gear engaged by the worm thread of the worm wheel and at its other end having a worm meshing with the teeth of said drum, a driving shaft rotatably mounted in said chamber and having a worm meshing with the teeth of said worm wheel, said drive shaft. extending externally of the body of said safe for connection with means for rotating the drive shaft.

7. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein and an entrance to the chamber, a drum rotatably mounted in said chamber and having compartments successively moving into position for access through the entrance when the drum is rotated, means for imparting rotary movement to said drum, said means including a drive shaft having an outer section journaled in the wall of the body and an inner section rotatably mounted in the chamber, ahead upon the outer end portion of the outer shaft section, a collar screwed upon the inner end portion of the outer shaft section to hold'the outer shaft section against longitudinal movement and extending inwardly beyond the inner end of the outer shaft section and rotatably receiving one end of the inner shaft section, said collar having its exposed face provided with clutch teeth, a sleeve mounted upon the inner shaft section and adjustable longitudinally thereon, a governor having a collar rotatably mounted upon said sleeve, a second collar keyed to the inner shaft section for movement longitudinally thereof and having clutch teeth for engaging the clutch teeth of the collar upon the outer shaft section, and weight-carrying spring arms extending between and connected with the collars carried by the inner shaft section to draw the last mentioned shaft collar out of engage ment with the collar of the outer shaft section when the drive shaft is rotating beyond a predetermined rate of speed.

8. A safe comprising a body having a chamber formed therein and an entrance to the chamber, a drum rotatably mount ed in said chamber and having compartments movable into registry with the entrance when the drum is rotated, means for imparting rotary movement to the drum including a drive shaft rotatably mounted and extending externally of the body, means in the chamber for transmitting rotary movementfrom the drive shaft to the drum, an operating motor having a motor shaft connected with the outer end of the drive shaft, a control switch, a train of gearing rotated from the motor shaft and including a rotatably mounted gear-carrying shaft, and an abutment arm carried by said gear-carrying shaft for engaging the switch and moving the switch to an off position as the said gearcarrying shaft rotates.

9. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein and an entrance to the chamber, a drum rotatably mounted in the chamber and havlng compartment about 1ts' periphery movable into registry with the entrance, means for imparting rotarymovement to the drum including a train of gearing in the chamber having operative connection with the drum, a drive shaft extending externally of the body, a motor having a motor shaft connected with the drive shaft, a control switch for said motor and including a rotatable actuating element, means actuated from the motor shaft for imparting movement to the turnable operating element of said switch, said means comprising a casing having a portion thereof positioned about the motor shaft, a worm carried by the motor shaft within the casing, a driven shaft journaled in the wall of the casing and extending externally thereof, an abutment arm carried by and extending radially of the outer end portion of said shaft, a train of gearing in said casing including a worm gear meshing with the worm upon said motor shaft, and a gear carried by the inner end portion of the shaft having the abutment carried thereby.

10. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein provided with an entrance and a door therefor, a drum rotatably mounted in said chamber and having an entrance door adapted to be brought into registry with the entrance to the body, means for imparting rotary motion to the drum including a motor exterior to the body, and manually operable means for controlling said motor.

11. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein, the body being provided with an entrance and a door therefor, a drum rotatably mounted in saidchamber and having a door adapted to register with the door in the body, means for imparting slow rotary movement to said drum including a rotatable member having a spiral thread upon its face, a skew gear with which said spiral thread engages, the skew gear being operatively engaged with the drum to rotate the same, and means exterior to the body for driving the rotatable member at a relatively slow rate of speed.

1 12. A safe comprising a body having a chamber therein, the body being provided with an entrance having a door, a drum fitting said chamber and rotatably mounted therein and having a plurality of compartments, the compartments being adapted to be brought successively; into registry with the entrance in the body, means for rotating the drum including an electrically actuated motor disposed in circuit with a source of energy and a switch, and means for moving said switch to an off position tobreak the circuit between the motor and the source of In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature. I

LUTHER ADDISON ELLISON. 

